The King Brothers

The King Brothers are brothers in the Ramones tradition, and began life as such near Kobe with members possessing the real names Keizo Matsuo- guitars and vox, Masafumi "Maya" Koyama- guitars and screaming, and Jun Fujimoto- drums. Like the Ramones the band deals in high intensity rock'n'roll, although their style is looser, verging on out of control, with more in common with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion than the Ramones. The band's stage show is explosive, and the guitarists are often found in... read more

The King Brothers are brothers in the Ramones tradition, and began life as such near Kobe with members possessing the real names Keizo Matsuo- guitars and vox, Masafumi "Maya" Koyama- guitars and screaming, and Jun Fujimoto- drums. Like the Ramones the band deals in high intensity rock'n'roll, although their style is looser, verging on out of control, with more in common with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion than the Ramones. The band's stage show is explosive, and the guitarists are often found in the audience, on amps or on monitors, in a frenzy alternately dancing, jumping, posturing and contorting. One reviewer described them as sounding like "the Germs backing Howling Wolf with his hand caught in a garbage disposal". This is not to say that they can not play competently - more that they play emotionally rather than according to exact notation. Their first album, untitled but known as their "white" album, was released on Bulb Records in 1998. The translated titles of the first three songs "Go To Hell!", "Sell Your Soul", and "Kill Everyone Blues", are representative of their nature, which is to say playing rock music like their lives depended on it. Their second album, "blue", on LD&K benefits from a better recording, and the third album, "red", on Deckrec features guest vocals and organ by Okker T, who it is assumed is Oka from the band Lulu's Marble, but largely carries on in the band's full throttle retro blues rock form. Their fourth album, again with an implied title, this time "rainbow", was released on Toshiba-EMI in 2001, their first for a major. Depending on your point of view, it shows signs of maturity, or of mellowing - at least some of the songs are slower, bluesier, and there is less screaming. The same year they had their "King Brothers" titled album released in the States by In The Red Records, most of the cuts re-recorded tracks from previous albums. The King Brothers toured the States in 1999 and 2001, and picked up a sizable following as a result of their dynamic live show. In 2002 the King Brothers released 6 X 3 with Jon Spencer producing. The album expands their sound some, and shows traces of psychedelia. The cut "Paint It Black!" is not the Rolling Stones song by the same name, but their overall sound shows some nod to the Stones, and their fashion sense definitely seems to be Brian Jones inspired. After 2003's album 13, drummer Jun Fujimoto bailed out, but the band continued with Shinji Wada taking over on drums, and released Blues on the indie UK Project label. collapse